The Chinese characters for the word “good,” hao, are a combination of characters that mean “son” and “daughter” separately.
A rhino calf stays close to its mother for about 2-3 years.
In England’s peerage, with title and property going to the eldest son, the other descendants of a peer would after two years become commoners. A duke’s eldest son would later be a duke, while any other son would be a lord. The sons of the lords would be called “mister.”
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory uses only 15 digits of pi for its highest-accuracy calculations for interplanetary navigation.
Before batons, orchestra leaders conducted with a staff. During a performance in 1687, composer Jean-Baptiste Lully accidentally hit his foot with a staff. Gangrene set in and he died. Thus marked the beginning of the end of conductors using staffs.
This article appears in October 11 • 2019.